Sydney - Areas Near The Beach To Stay

DP, DSD, DD and I would like to go to Sydney the week before Easter and not knowing Sydney, I am driving myself a bit nuts trying to work out where to stay.

Initially I was thinking the CBD but then I thought it might be nice to stay somewhere like Manly opposite the beach in an apartment with a sea view. But none of the apartments in Manly are rocking my boat or are too expensive.

What other areas would you recommend? We don't want to feel like we're too far from the action and the sights like the Opera House, but a ferry ride is fine and adds to the fun. We're not planning to hire a car.

TIA!

Anything that is close to the CBD is going to be fairly exxy. What kind of accomodation do you want- hotel, motel, caravan, cabin......
Public transport (buses, ferries) is mostly pretty good to get to the city so shouldn't be too much of a problem (if you can avoid the trains!) if you're a little bit from the actual CBD. How far from the city is too far for you?

Ideally a 3br apartment but we could cope with a 2br and realistically I think we're looking at at least $350 - $400 a night which is OK because we'd like this to be a special trip and are willing to splurge. (I can find cheaper ones in the CBD in the Meriton chain so any feedback on them would be good).

I can't find anything I like in Manly, Bondi or Bronte so now looking in Coogee.

Don't want anything more than about a 15 minute bus/train ride from the city and a 30 min ferry ride.

What about Darling Harbour. Not the beach, but you have water views? There's the novatel, medina grand, star city hotel.
Maybe the rocks? Don't know many hotels there, and again it's not the beach though....but it's close to public transport and easy enough to get to a beach, or anywhere, if you really want to.
Some good web sites to look at are www dot expedia dot com and www dot stayz dot com dot au they have heaps of hotels and the price the rooms start from. Also www dot lastminute dot com can be good sometimes too!
North side of sydney could be good too, esay to get to both the beach and the city. There are lots of little beaches around there too, around Mosman, Cremorne Point. Again I don't know any hotels there though.
Queenscliff, Dee Why or Curl Curl are north of Manly a little, but I don't know if that's a bit too far?
On the other side would be Rose Bay, Potts Point, Bondi (swiss grand, meriton, ), Tamarama, Bronte, Coogee (medina, coogee bay hotel, coogee sands).

Don't know if any of that helps, but that's all DH and I could think of!! There are HEAPS of beautiful places to go to.

If you think of more questions don't hesitate to ask :)

Manly and Bondi are going to be your closest to the city. The others will involve more travel time, but might be worth it? You may find something near Maroubra?

Coogee is nice too - holiday inn i think its called has great views, cafes,.....or Clovelly is nice too, but not sure about accomodation.